Are some jobs 'too feminine' in aesthetics?

[Aelin_Ashryver]

So much attacking of this friend for not being a fan of the more feminine aesthetic. What's wrong with y'all? You can be perfectly secure in yourself and still not like something. You wouldn't catch me putting a beard on my female character if it were possible, ew too masculine.

WHM and DNC are for sure a more femme aesthetic. I really like the WHM style but I am also female and into typical female things so.. I do wish healers and casters had more leather or armour based gear sets to choose from. It gets old having nothing but robes to wear. Would love a more badass battle healer for a change rather than the classic soft gentle looking healer.

[Caurcas]

Agreed, healers (apart from Sch and Sge) lean heavily into a feminine looking aesthetic. Conversely, all the tanks lean heavily into a masculine aesthetic. It sucks playing a male healer as the gear usually favors a feminine look.

[Xirean]

So much attacking of this friend for not being a fan of the more feminine aesthetic. What's wrong with y'all? You can be perfectly secure in yourself and still not like something. You wouldn't catch me putting a beard on my female character if it were possible, ew too masculine.

WHM and DNC are for sure a more femme aesthetic. I really like the WHM style but I am also female and into typical female things so.. I do wish healers and casters had more leather or armour based gear sets to choose from. It gets old having nothing but robes to wear. Would love a more badass battle healer for a change rather than the classic soft gentle looking healer.

The reason people get hyper defensive and may some times come off as attacking is because it's only ever "this is too feminine" as opposed to "this is too gendered". Are people going to complain that Warrior or Dark Knight are too masculine? No class is "too much" of something. The class is just the class.

[Katie_Kitty]

Agreed, healers (apart from Sch and Sge) lean heavily into a feminine looking aesthetic. Conversely, all the tanks lean heavily into a masculine aesthetic. It sucks playing a male healer as the gear usually favors a feminine look.

I guess what I don't understand is why it's bothersome being a male character in a robe but nobody is bothered by dressing their female characters in heavy armor? This is exclusively a problem coming from the male portion of the playerbase and it seems odd to me why it has to be such a big deal.

[Aelin_Ashryver]

The reason people get hyper defensive and may some times come off as attacking is because it's only ever "this is too feminine" as opposed to "this is too gendered". Are people going to complain that Warrior or Dark Knight are too masculine? No class is "too much" of something. The class is just the class.

The shoulder pads in WoW, and a couple of the REALLY massive super broad giving shoulder pads in this game are too masculine for me. I don't like how comically broad it makes the character, it's hyper masculine like Jonny Bravo from the old cartoons, not my taste. So I would say it's not only ever "too feminine" but sure majority of the time it is, but this is also due to male clothes overall being more gender neutral in the first place than woman's clothes. The men's section in a store I worked at had plenty women buying the stuff in that department, the reverse was not so true apart from a few very skinny dudes needing some smaller skinny jeans.
The class can definitely swing more one way or the other. In aesthetic especially.

[Wasselin]

even tho i like the spells i can‘t lie and say i miss the old feeling of white mage sometimes. i don‘t think the flower/lily theme particularly matches the conjurer theme in comparison to aero or stone skills that were taken away from it‘s kit.
the massive and powerful hitting stone skill, that amazing animation of aero III… gave me more of that conjurer „feel“.

I think the lilly/flower keeps with the "natural" theme of aero/stone/fluid aura and the job lore as having a connection to the elementals. Plus all the canes/wands that have flowers or are branches/rough wood. Since White Magic is about "creation" it makes sense that it has this connection to nature and plants. These concepts are often associated together.

[Aelin_Ashryver]

I guess what I don't understand is why it's bothersome being a male character in a robe but nobody is bothered by dressing their female characters in heavy armor? This is exclusively a problem coming from the male portion of the playerbase and it seems odd to me why it has to be such a big deal.

Because when you pop that female in armour what is essentially feminine, ie curves on the body etc are still there. Your character is not suddenly flat chested, broad shouldered with narrow hips and a lil bulge, the armour changes around female characters figure. And SE, much to my annoyance, will also add more to some sets to make it more feminine.. like the pointless hole in the lvl 50 DRG armour. And like I pointed out already, men's stuff is already much more gender neutral. Frills round the bust on a chest piece give the illusion of a larger chest, same for if you were to pop frills towards the rump.. they give a more feminine shape. Long vertical lines can slim you down, there are so many tricks to the eye that women's clothing use to amplify the female figure.

Ultimately women's clothes were made to flatter their figure not a mans, now ik plenty dude's can rock a dress! I love Eugene Lee Yang, he looks fire in just about anything he wears! But it's not so surprising that a type of clothing that is typically for one gender and tailored to suit that gender is not appealing to the opposite gender! A flowing dress is going to compliment a more feminine figure than a masculine one generally. Asking for less typical feminine clothing for the archetype is not a bad thing, it gives everyone more options! I don't much like gear being locked to specific jobs at all, if I level the job up to be able to equip the gear let me glam it on D:

[Nishira]

I guess what I don't understand is why it's bothersome being a male character in a robe but nobody is bothered by dressing their female characters in heavy armor? This is exclusively a problem coming from the male portion of the playerbase and it seems odd to me why it has to be such a big deal.

Maybe it’s because in the real world in western society women can wear such a broad range of clothes and will still be considered feminine, no questions asked, while for males their options are rather more limited? I’d love the same kind of freedom for men btw, I think it’s awesome just to go with my mood that day and wear a frilly dress, or simple jeans and a sweater, or… etc. I think for a lot of men that kind of ‘anything goes!’ is sort of unfamiliar territory. In that sense I think Kolsykol summed it up quite well with what we are accustomed to culturally, and men are not at a place in time where wearing frilly dresses with lots of lace and flowers weaved in feels perfectly masculine. Even if it used to be different, or will be different again.

[Katie_Kitty]

Maybe it’s because in the real world in western society women can wear such a broad range of clothes and will still be considered feminine, no questions asked, while for males their options are rather more limited? I’d love the same kind of freedom for men btw, I think it’s awesome just to go with my mood that day and wear a frilly dress, or simple jeans and a sweater, or… etc. I think for a lot of men that kind of ‘anything goes!’ is sort of unfamiliar territory. In that sense I think Kolsykol summed it up quite well with what we are accustomed to culturally, and men are not at a place in time where wearing frilly dresses with lots of lace and flowers weaved in feels perfectly masculine. Even if it used to be different, or will be different again.

Well it's not other people telling them they can't dress in caster robes. It's them complaining that a caster in caster robes is apparently awful simply because the caster is male. Doesn't make any sense to me.

[Wasselin]

There is nothing inherently feminine about a flowing dress or anything about it that naturally fits or flatters a woman and not a man, we've assigned "dress" as a feminine because in western culture for recent history only women wear dresses/robes.

I'm all for more options, but actually making the same piece of gear gendered so it looks different on men and women takes options away it doesn't add them.